Some Site Notes + TCM Pre-Code Fridays in September

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A new page and some new features on the site plus a list of the 66 pre-Code movies that TCM has tentatively scheduled for Fridays in September! Housekeeping first:

Site Notes

I updated the TCM Tally for June earlier Thursday night. You can access that HERE.

There are now additional sorting options available on my index page of classic movie reviews. The default view remains in order of my most recently posted article as I like to think my best posts are my most recent posts. But the page now includes tabs that will also sort my review posts in alphabetical order; chronologically by original year of release, both newest-to-oldest and oldest-to-newest; and by my ratings score. That page is HERE.

Which brings me to the latest new feature: Ratings. I’ve only implemented the feature on my last four posts and will use it going forward on new posts. Along with my rating I’ve included the current IMDb rating for sake of comparison. Clicking on the IMDb rating will take you to their page for the movie. You’ll find the review box at the top right of the page on each of my four most recent review articles. Have a look at the top right of my most recent post, Broadway Bill (1934), as an example.

The Immortal Ephemera Bookshelf is a brand new page-in-progress that I’ve taken to calling the “site cited.” It includes the film books and movie biographies that I’ve cited inside posts on this site. Each listing includes an Amazon affiliate link (to line my pockets) along with links to the various reviews, interviews and articles that I’ve used the book for (my two cents towards your earning me a few cents). In all seriousness, I hope the page becomes a good resource list of the movie books I put to the most use. Take a look at the Immortal Ephemera Bookshelf HERE.

Finally, a reminder that announcements of new collectible galleries and links back to classic galleries are included in the separate Immortal Ephemera Store sales newsletter. I advertise that as mailing weekly, but it’s become more of a bimonthly (twice per month) notice of new sales listings and gallery links. You can subscribe here.

TCM Pre-Code Fridays in September

When I posted TCM’s Super Secret version of the August Summer Under the Stars schedule, I said that August is almost always my favorite month on Turner Classic Movies. Not so in 2014. The “super secret” September 2014 schedule is up and it includes a 24-hour marathon of pre-Code movies throughout each of the four Fridays in that month.

Thanks to Laura of Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings for first alerting me to the September pre-Codes and my friend Stan for alerting me to the full schedule being online.

These early schedules should always be considered tentative–but I’ll be heartbroken if this sees any major changes between now and then!

Following is the scheduled run-down for each Friday in September, with titles and names linked to any relevant articles I’ve posted to the site.

US Schedule; All times EST

September 5

4:00 AM
THE BIG SHAKEDOWN (1934)
A racketeer breaks into black-market medicine.
Dir: John Francis Dillon Cast: Charles Farrell, Bette Davis, Ricardo Cortez.
BW-61 mins, CC

5:15 AM
PARACHUTE JUMPER (1933)
A gangster victimizes three friends trying to get jobs.
Dir: Alfred E. Green Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, Frank McHugh.
BW-72 mins

6:30 AM
EX-LADY (1933)
A female artist is torn between her belief in free love and the constraints of romance.
Dir: Robert Florey Cast: Bette Davis, Gene Raymond, Frank McHugh.
BW-67 mins, CC

7:45 AM
VIRTUE (1932)
A taxi driver falls for a sassy New York con girl.
Dir: Edward Buzzell Cast: Carole Lombard, Pat O’Brien, Ward Bond.
BW-69 mins

9:00 AM
WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD (1933)
An impoverished girl masquerades as a boy to run with a gang of young hobos.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Frankie Darro, Edwin Phillips, Rochelle Hudson.
BW-68 mins, CC

10:15 AM
SAFE IN HELL (1931)
On the run from the police, a New Orleans prostitute gets stranded in a tropical haven for outlaws
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde.
BW-73 mins, CC

11:30 AM
FRISCO JENNY (1932)
A district attorney prosecutes his own mother for murder.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy.
BW-71 mins, CC

12:45 PM
FEMALE (1933)
A female CEO who’s used to buying love meets her match in an independent young executive.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Lois Wilson.
BW-60 mins, CC

2:00 PM
ILLICIT (1931)
Young free-thinkers turn conventionally jealous when they marry.
Dir: Archie Mayo Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, James Rennie, Charles Butterworth.
BW-79 mins, CC

3:30 PM
NIGHT NURSE (1931)
A nurse discovers that the children she’s caring for are murder targets.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell.
BW-72 mins

4:45 PM
THOU SHALT NOT: SEX, SIN AND CENSORSHIP IN PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD (2008)
This documentary looks at how the social, financial and moral forces all helped shape one of the most intriguing periods in Hollywood history.
C-68 mins, CC

6:00 PM
BABY FACE (1933)
A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire.
Dir: Alfred E. Green Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook.
BW-76 mins, CC

7:30 PM
THE DIVORCEE (1930)
The double standard destroys a liberal couple’s marriage.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard Cast: Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel.
BW-82 mins, CC

9:00 PM
FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933)
A producer fights labor problems, financiers and his greedy ex-wife to put on a show.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler.
BW-104 mins, CC

11:00 PM
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933)
Three chorus girls fight to keep their show going and find rich husbands.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon.
BW-98 mins, CC

12:45 AM
SEARCH FOR BEAUTY (1934)
Three con artists dupe two Olympians into serving as editors of a new magazine which is a front for salacious stories and pictures.
Dir: Erle C. Kenton Cast: Larry “Buster” Crabbe, Ida Lupino, Robert Armstrong.
BW-78 mins

2:15 AM
TAXI! (1932)
A feisty independent cab driver fights off a crooked syndicate.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: James Cagney, Loretta Young, George E. Stone.
BW-69 mins, CC

Ralf Harolde and Dorothy Mackaill in SAFE IN HELL (1931), September 5 at 10:15 am.

September 12

4:00 AM
THE NAUGHTY FLIRT (1931)
A flighty heiress goes to work as a secretary to win the straitlaced man she loves.
Dir: Edward Cline Cast: Alice White, Paul Page, Myrna Loy.
BW-56 mins

5:00 AM
TEN CENTS A DANCE (1931)
A taxi dancer with a jealous husband finds herself falling for a wealthy client.
Dir: Lionel Barrymore Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, Monroe Owsley.
BW-77 mins, CC

6:30 AM
WHEN LADIES MEET (1933)
A female novelist doesn’t realize her new friend is the wife whose husband she’s trying to steal.
Dir: Harry Beaumont Cast: Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy.
BW-85 mins, CC

8:00 AM
DOUBLE HARNESS (1933)
After tricking a playboy into marriage, a woman sets out to win his love honestly.
Dir: John Cromwell Cast: Ann Harding, William Powell, Lucile Browne.
BW-69 mins, CC

9:15 AM
FOR THE DEFENSE (1930)
An attorney, who specializes in springing criminals out of prison, is faced with a moral dilemma when his girlfriend drunkenly kills a pedestrian with her car and another man takes the blame.
Dir: John Cromwell Cast: William Powell, Kay Francis, Scott Kolk.
BW-65 mins

10:30 AM
UNION DEPOT (1932)
An out-of-luck con artist discovers a suitcase full of money at a train station.
Dir: Alfred E. Green Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee.
BW-67 mins

11:45 AM
MARY STEVENS, M.D. (1933)
A woman doctor decides to have a baby without benefit of marriage.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon Cast: Kay Francis, Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrell.
BW-72 mins

1:00 PM
THE AGE OF CONSENT (1932)
College co-eds learns to handle the responsibilities of romance.
Dir: Gregory LaCava Cast: Dorothy Wilson, Arline Judge, Richard Cromwell.
BW-63 mins, CC

2:45 PM
BOMBSHELL (1933)
A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
Dir: Victor Fleming Cast: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan.
BW-96 mins, CC

4:30 PM
RED-HEADED WOMAN (1932)
An ambitious secretary tries to sleep her way into high society.
Dir: Jack Conway Cast: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone.
BW-80 mins, CC

6:00 PM
RED DUST (1932)
A plantation overseer in Indochina is torn between a married woman and a lady of the evening.
Dir: Victor Fleming Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Gene Raymond.
BW-83 mins

7:30 PM
DESIGN FOR LIVING (1933)
An independent woman can’t chose between the two men she loves.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins.
BW-91 mins, CC

9:15 PM
TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932)
A love triangle ignites trouble between two jewel theives and their intended victim.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall.
BW-82 mins, CC

10:45 PM
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1932)
Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of a scientist who unleashes the beast within.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart.
BW-96 mins, CC

12:30 AM
THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE (1933)
A society girl gets mixed up with blackmail and murder after a vicious sexual assault.
Dir: Stephen Roberts Cast: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue.
BW-71 mins, CC

1:45 AM
FREAKS (1932)
A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband.
Dir: Tod Browning Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova.
BW-62 mins, CC

3:00 AM
JEWEL ROBBERY (1932)
A jewel thief falls for a tycoon’s wife in Vienna.
Dir: William Dieterle Cast: William Powell, Kay Francis, Helen Vinson.
BW-68 mins, CC

Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931), September 12 at 10:45 pm. More in my post Was Miriam Hopkins the Sexiest Pre-Code Star of Them All?

September 19

4:00 AM
PAROLE GIRL (1933)
A wrongly convicted woman tries to make amends after getting out of prison.
Dir: Edward Cline Cast: Mae Clarke, Ralph Bellamy, Marie Prevost.
BW-68 mins

5:30 AM
THREE WISE GIRLS (1932)
Three models try to snag husband’s but the ones they find are already married.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke, Walter Byron.
BW-69 mins

6:45 AM
LADY KILLER (1933)
A criminal on the run becomes a Hollywood movie star.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay.
BW-76 mins, CC

8:15 AM
POSSESSED (1931)
A factory girl rises to the top as mistress of a tycoon, then falls in love.
Dir: Clarence Brown Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Wallace Ford.
BW-76 mins, CC

9:45 AM
TWO SECONDS (1932)
In the last moments of his life, a criminal reviews the circumstances that led him to death row.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Vivienne Osborne, Guy Kibbee.
BW-67 mins

11:00 AM
THE LITTLE GIANT (1933)
When Prohibition ends, a bootlegger tries to break into high society.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Helen Vinson.
BW-76 mins, CC

12:30 PM
THE MIND READER (1933)
A fake mentalist tries to go straight, only to end up in jail.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Warren William, Constance Cummings, Allen Jenkins.
BW-70 mins, CC

1:45 PM
BEAUTY AND THE BOSS (1932)
After being distracted by a string of pretty secretaries, a banker hires a plain Jane, only to fall in love with her.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Marian Marsh, David Manners, Warren William.
BW-65 mins

3:00 PM
WATERLOO BRIDGE (1931)
A ballerina sinks into prostitution when her husband is reported killed in World War I.
Dir: James Whale Cast: Mae Clarke, Kent Douglass, Doris Lloyd.
BW-81 mins

4:30 PM
HOT SATURDAY (1932)
A virtuous small-town clerk becomes the victim of a scandalous rumor from an unsuccessful suitor.
Dir: William Seiter Cast: Cary Grant, Nancy Carroll, Randolph Scott.
BW-73 mins

6:00 PM
BLONDE VENUS (1932)
A nightclub singer gives in to a rich playboy to finance her husband’s medical treatment.
Dir: Josef von Sternberg Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant.
BW-94 mins, CC

7:45 PM
I’M NO ANGEL (1933)
A carnival dancer evades the law and invades high society.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Gregory Ratoff.
BW-88 mins, CC

9:30 PM
SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933)
A saloon singer fights off smugglers, an escaped con and a Salvation Army officer out to reform her.
Dir: Lowell Sherman Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore.
BW-65 mins, CC

10:45 PM
BLONDE CRAZY (1931)
A con-man bellhop and his chambermaid girlfriend set out to fleece hotel guests.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern.
BW-79 mins, CC

12:15 AM
THOU SHALT NOT: SEX, SIN AND CENSORSHIP IN PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD (2008)
This documentary looks at how the social, financial and moral forces all helped shape one of the most intriguing periods in Hollywood history.
C-68 mins, CC

1:30 AM
SKYSCRAPER SOULS (1932)
A ruthless financier will stop at nothing to control a 100-story office building.
Dir: Edgar Selwyn Cast: Warren William, Maureen O’Sullivan, Gregory Ratoff.
BW-99 mins

3:15 AM
SHE HAD TO SAY YES (1933)
A secretary pads her salary by dating prospective buyers for her company.
Dir: Busby Berkeley Cast: Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Lyle Talbot.
BW-66 mins, CC

Warren William in THE MIND READER (1933), September 19 at 12:30 pm. See my complete post at WarrenWilliam.com.

September 26

4:00 AM
A FREE SOUL (1931)
A hard-drinking lawyer’s daughter falls for one of his underworld clients.
Dir: Clarence Brown Cast: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore.
BW-94 mins, CC

6:00 AM
DOWNSTAIRS (1932)
An evil chauffeur seduces and blackmails his way through high society.
Dir: Monta Bell Cast: John Gilbert, Paul Lukas, Virginia Bruce.
BW-78 mins

7:30 AM
LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT (1933)
A lady bank robber becomes the cell block boss after she’s sent to prison.
Dir: Howard Bretherton Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston S. Foster, Lyle Talbot.
BW-69 mins

8:45 AM
LOOSE ANKLES (1930)
A young woman will inherit a million dollars if she marries well.
Dir: Ted Wilde Cast: Loretta Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Louise Fazenda.
BW-67 mins

10:00 AM
THEY CALL IT SIN (1932)
An innocent young chorus girl fights the advances of her lecherous producer.
Dir: Thornton Freeland Cast: Loretta Young, George Brent, Una Merkel.
BW-69 mins

11:15 AM
HEROES FOR SALE (1933)
A veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Loretta Young.
BW-71 mins, CC

12:30 PM
EMPLOYEES’ ENTRANCE (1933)
An unscrupulous department store manager stops at nothing to get what he wants.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford.
BW-75 mins, CC

2:00 PM
MIDNIGHT MARY (1933)
An abused orphan sinks into a life of crime.
Dir: William Wellman Cast: Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone.
BW-74 mins

3:15 PM
OTHER MEN’S WOMEN (1931)
A railroad engineer falls for a co-worker’s wife.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey.
BW-70 mins

4:30 PM
THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931)
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods.
BW-84 mins, CC

6:00 PM
SCARFACE (1932)
A murderous thug shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Dir: Howard Hawks Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley.
BW-94 mins, CC

7:45 PM
LITTLE CAESAR (1930)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell.
BW-79 mins, CC

9:15 PM
PENTHOUSE (1933)
The mob frames a lawyer for murder, so he enlists a call girl’s help in finding the real killer.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Cast: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Charles Butterworth.
BW-89 mins

11:00 PM
THREE ON A MATCH (1932)
A woman’s childhood friends try to rescue her from gangsters.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Ann Dvorak, Warren William, Joan Blondell.
BW-63 mins, CC

12:15 AM
CALL HER SAVAGE (1932)
A Texas gal storms her way through life, brawling and boozing until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the errors of her ways.
Dir: John Francis Dillon Cast: Clara Bow, Gilbert Roland, Thelma Todd.
BW-88 mins

1:45 AM
THE HATCHET MAN (1932)
When he’s forced to kill his best friend, a Chinese hit man adopts the man’s daughter.
Dir: William A. Wellman Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Dudley Digges.
BW-74 mins,

3:00 AM
STATE’S ATTORNEY (1932)
A district attorney’s arrogance almost costs him his career.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: John Barrymore, Helen Twelvetrees, Jill Esmond.
BW-79 mins

Loretta Young in MIDNIGHT MARY (1933), September 26 at 2:00 pm.

The worst thing about a schedule like this is that after the initial ecstasy we’re prone to find what’s missing: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and Universal’s horror classics are omissions that jump out to me. I won’t quibble though, what I copied above is almost my favorite TCM schedule of all-time (Warren William’s Summer Under the Stars day takes the top slot!). I’m embarrassed that I haven’t written about more of these and hope to remedy that during the coming months.

I’m going to put a target on a handful of titles I hope to cover between now and September. Mostly those that I’ve been planning to take a look at for a long while now.

I’ll do by best to have something on each of the following before TCM plays them: Wild Boys of the Road, Baby Face, Design for Living, Beauty and the Boss and She Had to Say Yes.

I’d also like to tackle at least one of the big three gangster films by then: Little Caesar, The Public Enemy or Scarface as I’ve been writing all around the genre for a few years in preparation of eventually covering those. And I’d like to try to get to at least one Harlow title as I never seem to write about her movies.

I’ve probably bitten off more than I can chew, but if I can add even just three or four of these titles to the site that I’ll be pretty happy with myself.

Is TCM playing a pre-Code title that you would especially like to see me cover? Leave a comment and as long as I have a copy on hand (I think I have all but one or two of these) I’ll do my best!

Clara Bow in CALL HER SAVAGE (1932), September 26 at 12:15 am.